Silence the White Noise

My intent was; however, the sweetest voice said, "Mom, I read you are going off the grid, but I read your blog every day ..."

This blog is my voice. It is a legacy of who I am for my girls and now my granddaughter. Intents can change and I've changed my mind on going silent for two months.

I read a devotion today, The Sound of Silence, and it spoke to my heart. So many times throughout the years I've written about being still, the beauty of the waiting room, and I appreciate this writers words eloquently put together about re-calibrating through absolute silence, a lost beautiful art in a world full of white noise.

A month ago, I had an opportunity that I had prayed about for months. A conversation I was about to have was everything to me. Given an opportunity I had been praying about, I came to the conversation begging God to be included, me knowing I had prayed about this fervently for so long I came raw and exposed out of respect for God and the matter I took seriously.

Sometimes you only have one chance and I believe there are critical moments in life there is wisdom in coming spiritually prepared.

Though the outcome can go in any direction, know you did your part. God knows.

While I am grateful, this important conversation was met with tings of texts and the constant ringing of phone calls. Ting, ting, ting, ringgggg, ting, ting, ting, ringggggg, ting, ting, ting, ringggggg, ting. Every time that phone was picked up and looked at, at every text reply, my heart dropped in the white noise that drowned the whispers of my heart that couldn't be heard over the constant disruption.

The Holy Spirit intercedes for us when our words go silent and we do not even know how to put words together to pray. White noise shatters the connection and one cannot listen to the words our hearts are trying to say.

How would Esther's conversation have gone when she went to the King if he had a cell phone that wouldn't stop ringing?

Do your part and shush the noise of the world in important conversations, because you never know when your moment of "a time such as this" may happen and you are distracted.

THE SOUND OF SILENCE

 “He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’” Psalm 46:10a (NIV)

According to interruption science, we’re interrupted every three minutes. Sound familiar? (Or maybe three minutes is the most you’ll have today between interruptions!)

The very fact that we have a field of science dedicated to interruption is evidence of how bad noise has gotten in our world.

Consider this: For the past 30-plus years, an acoustic ecologist named Gordon Hempton has compiled what he calls “The List of the Last Great Quiet Places.” It consists of places with at least 15 minutes of uninterrupted quiet during daylight hours. At last count there were only 12 quiet places in the entire United States! And we wonder why the soul suffers.

It’s hard to tune out the voices of others, the call of social media, and the constant demands to do more and be more. But silence helps us hear God’s voice and sing His song.

Silence is the difference between sight and insight.
Silence is the difference between happiness and joy.
Silence is the difference between fear and faith.

Have you ever tried to quiet a loud room? Attempting to yell above the crowd usually doesn’t work. It’s far more effective to hush the crowd with a shhh. That’s the method God employs. His whisper quiets us, calms us, stills us. As we see in today’s key verse, “He says, ‘Be still, and know that I am God’” (Psalm 46:10a).

The “white noise” of the world might be the greatest impediment to our spiritual growth. By definition, white noise is a sound that contains every frequency a human can hear. And because it contains every frequency, it’s very difficult to hear any frequency -- especially the still, small voice of God.

When our lives get loud, with noise filling every frequency, we lose our sense of being. When our schedules get busy, we lose our sense of balance, which is a function of the inner ear.

Can I go out on a limb?

Your life is too loud.
Your schedule is too busy.

That’s how we forget that God is God. And it takes very little to distract us. “I neglect God and his angels, for the noise of a fly,” said the English poet John Donne.

Over the past decade, I’ve recorded a dozen audiobooks with a brilliant sound engineer named Brad Smiley. During our last recording session, Brad told me about standard operating procedure for sound mixers in his industry. Before going into the studio, they let their ears relax and recalibrate through absolute silence. Only then are they ready to listen, really listen. Acoustic ecologists call the process ear cleaning.

If you want to hear the heart of God, silence is key.
If you want the Spirit of God to fill you, be still.

The psalmists referred to God as their refuge, their fortress, and their ever-present help in time of need. But my favorite descriptor might be the “hiding place.” “You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance” (Psalm 32:7, NIV).

The voice can reproduce only what the ear can hear. My prayer is that you’ll learn to discern God’s voice. When you do, His songs of deliverance can set you free.

Simply put, God often speaks loudest when we’re quietest. Silence is so critical to our spiritual vitality that it’s worth meditating on one word or phrase of Scripture at a time:

Be.
Be still.
Be still, and know.
“Be still, and know that I am God.”

-- Psalm 46:10a